Homesick: Why I Live in a Shed by Catrina Davies

★★★★☆|☆☆
“There was something increasingly radical in doing nothing, it seemed to me, within a society that had a fetish for being busy.”
Timestamps and links below the fold ↓
0:00 Intro
0:09 Summary
0:43 Review
2:05 Housing poverty, capitalism, compromise
6:55 Fictionalised memoirs
8:27 Goodbye
A note about when I said people should 'broadly be responsible for themselves' - I think the state has a responsibility to provide good education and healthcare but beyond that one should have to work (and with) for what they've got*. That's not to say that privilege and systematic oppression doesn't exist, but I don't think the state has control over that besides providing equitable education+healthcare.
(* huge exception for the disabled and the elderly, the state should support them)
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📚 / charlotte-dann
🌟 / charlotte_dann

[@truthowl3265]

This epitomises a side to British society which chills my heart - an inability to accept difference in others. And there is a serious problem in the housing market - aside from the unbelievable corruption. Everyone has their limit to what they can stand before they break. You have not experienced it yet.

[@martinforrester8249]

Totally agree.

[@ambersmithwhyte3079]

Catrina is a talented writer - read The Ribbons are for Fearlessness, a true adventure - her journey in a van from Nordic north to Portugal. Keeping herself by busking in various countries - with her Cello - she also has a guitar and a surfboard. Her second book Homesickness, again autobiographical and and fair comment on the housing crisis in UK and the rest of the Western world. She is also a musician and singer song-writer. Just not as talented as Adele and doesn't have the voice. She is clever, got to Cambridge and completed her degree. Chareads not sufficiently experienced in life to really understand Catrina's thought processes and lifestyle.

[@noelgibson5956]

I kind of...........am in the middle, really. I'm employed, but don't own much........and am very happy and healthy as a result. I live in a tiny flat, and ride a pushbike. I have enough money to cover life's expenses, and am never short. I haven't read the book, but am sure the overall message is:- the basic things in life are what is important, whichever way you work to obtain it. Being a wealthy have it all will not make you happy or healthy. Life is short......smell the roses while you can.

[@franksommerfeld8616]

I loved the book. I found it to be precise and addictive. The principles of individualism, idealism and nature’s primacy came through so intertwined and naturally, it seems it must have been the product of refinement and hard work. Very disciplined. Good review by the way. It got me thinking. To quote Thoreau: I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion. AND. Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. It’s pretty radical stuff at times.

[@WindsongPodcast]

Not everyone wants to “just get a job.” Do you know how much violence has gone into the story of forcing people to pay money just to have a place to live? Lots. Now everyone works similarly or even harder than the official slaves of the past and present, but now we’re so Brian washed, or I mean socially conditioned (brainwashed) that we accept it. We’re often even proud of it and will quickly move to shame others, the few who are left that still have a mind and will to question things..

[@BodarkZulu]

Interesting take on the book, I'll be buying it very soon. I'm of the same mindset as her in some respects. If you can actually see how edged things are against the average man the modern world is, it makes you go crazy. Thanks for reviewing it.

[@timzarkfluting2121]

You really made my day for you discounted the idea of the turning of issues into events. Or so it seems. It is not that you came over apolitical, but your stance of, , (approx.) "well , just get on with it", was interesting not least because it took all the packaging (the book), to inspire or release such comments.

[@dawnjohnson8739]

Just finished reading. Couldn’t put it down. As any writer would know, this is an almost impossible kind of book to write, especially to have be brilliant. Yet, Catrina did it. What a talent. Her writing reminds me of Steinbeck.

[@billjoe39]

And the reviewer here did not rely on financial support at any point, from family or friends to help her 'make it' in London ( one of the world's most expensive cities) as opposed to her own efforts, which she intimates here? Especially so with the economic chaos that is happening now......maybe she could read and review a new book called 'Clue'.

[@georgepickle3404]

cat is great, I know her personally, and she has an understanding of life which you will likely achieve later in your life too. unfortunately, as for now, it is beyond you and your review misinterprets many of cat's points.

[@martinforrester8249]

Yes, I agree with your assessment .

[@susanfletcher8960]

Not sure you understand what the books about or have any concept of what she’s trying to explain. As for ‘it’s not that much’, a saying you keep repeating is obviously relevant to your situation and bares no relation to the realities of some people lives. Her political stance is a true reflection of years of a capitalist government beating down the poorest in society and rewarding the wealthiest. She questions what we as a society accept as ‘normal and acceptable’ and how that traps people in a never ending misery of burden leaving us less engaged with the reality of this wonderful planet, the end result being we care less, hence the mess we’re in. Perhaps read it again without a preconceived idea of how society is, and thinking that’s how it should be, but rather open your mind to the possibility of a more considered life, not one bound by what we’re ‘supposed’ to do. Our lifestyles are often dictated by economic and social pressure not choice and to step out of that and question the narrative is brave.

[@lookuptheskyisfalling8364]

Exactly

[@peterowen4456]

Interesting take on Catrina's lifestyle. I haven't read the book yet but I have seen several interviews with her and, as somebody who has spent his life in the whole property owning, salary earning system, I have always been drawn to alternative lifestyles but possibly only in a voyeuristic sense. It's interesting to compare Catrina's stripped back lifestyle and why she choses to live in that way with, say, things like the tiny house movement and other "off grid" type living. The latter tend to have made the choice willingly, whereas there is a bit of resentment in Catrina's choices. Having said all that, there is an issue with affordable housing. I am a baby boomer and benefitted from lower house prices when buying and then house price inflation giving me an asset. The situation facing current generations is vastly different. I live in the North West and a 3 bed semi would cost £750 per month minimum, add in £100 energy bills, £150 council tax and food and someone on the minimum wage is in trouble making ends meet. Take, say, a care worker who also needs a car and the issues are real. On balance I admire the way Catrina has found a way of living that works for her. Thought provoking review though.

[@billjoe39]

Not resentment, merely disenchantment Catrina felt......and EVERY off grid or alternative housing mindset would feel precisely the same way

[@AnnaShuk]

Hmmm...can't agree with you really. I'll read the book first tho, to make my point.

[@smb782]

Never read the book, probably never will, but l'm so glad the cup in your hand eventually left the frame, even though l think l get the point/plug! Perhaps, 270 million years of time ( er, ? ) will eventually assist your conflicting/ contradic - TORY ( shurely-shum-mistake ) views about who, where and what a housing problem is in an 'organised' society. Having just paid out nearly the same amount of money as l received 49 years ago in an annual salary in order now to tax, insure and park a venerable but tiny car on a small section of the capital's roads, whilst still awaiting after six weeks the return of my driving licence from the black-hole of DVLA Swansea ( no offence committed and certainly no offence meant to your good self ), l'm a tiny bit interested in where the ' organised ' bit is, other than revenue-raising with concomitant threats and l can't say l'm awaiting with too much interest your next installment, but thanks for the semi-sublimated acerbic utterings....they helped to pass the time awaiting the return of summer. And, a happy foist of July to ye.

[@tonytowers5889]

Would have been nice to actually see the lady and her shed.

[@witness64]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKavZ4l6i61ppck

[@TRONMAGNUM2099]

Yes, rent is too high, and it sucks, but the writer made choices and therefore lives in a shed. I'd love to be able to play video games all day, but I also don't want to live in a rambled shack. I didn't find the book inspirational or to have any real meaning. It was about life choices she makes. I personally don't want to live that lifestyle, so I won't.

[@billjoe39]

and do you leave 'add some meat!' comments on vegan recipe videos? I doubt you read that book of hers

[@TRONMAGNUM2099]

@@billjoe39 Thanks for the tip. Meat would probably help a lot of Vegan recipes out there. Maybe you should send the author a check, so she can continue to write novels not many people want to read.

[@dawnjohnson8739]

You have to be an artist of some kind, a passionate artist to understand Catrina’s book. For an artist like Catrina, it was not a choice. You either die, or you do what you have to do to do your art. As I said, really, only deeply committed artists can truly understand this book.

[@billjoe39]

@@TRONMAGNUM2099 paid troll, you had my previous comment deleted....what's with the grandiose names like 'magnum'? Im probably dealing with a pimply faced gamer living in dad's basement

[@dushjr]

Love you keep up the good reviews

[@damienscabishop3786]

Gosh you sound smug!

[@redcarrera2185]

Too smug

[@nicola8075]

Interesting her views in her last few videos have changed given her own circumstances since having long covid.. .was new to this you tuber but nah not for me. Typical tory voter probably

[@belindarichards2582]

I think you can criticise when you are able to write as brilliantly as Catrina which I seriously doubt!

[@billjoe39]

indeed, posting videos and writing well are two different things

[@PierreLaBaguette]

I think her points are quite valid. I don't need to read & like her prose to be able to appreciate the different point of view she brought in. I find it refreshing

[@helencarter4043]

a huge chip?? I guess you didn't live through Thatcher's Britain...

[@Chareads]

Nor did the author...

[@greencandletraction]

I really enjoyed the passion with which you pushed back on the sort of privileged entitlement that (it sounds like) the author has. I agree 100% and as I read more in this sort of area - because I very much love the genre, whatever it might be called... settlement fiction, maybe?! - I find a lot of this sort of thing. People who seem to be so detached from reality and I think it can be a generational thing so I don't always hold it against them but it can make an otherwise enjoyable premise very hard to read. On a lighter note. Have you ever come across 'Thin Paths' by Julia Blackburn? It has definitely become one of my favs of the genre and is very much focused more on a gratitude and searching for that sense of place that I think a lot of us seek, also a fascinaton of the very human side. Rather than 'look at everything that is wrong with how the world works'. Always enjoy your vids. Congrats on the Brighton news 😎

[@martinforrester8249]

Read the book first, you may then be more equipped to make some of your comments !

[@SpringboardThought]

Hah. Does not sound like a book I’d be into. Thanks a lot for the thoughtful analysis and review of it.

[@ambersmithwhyte3079]

Read her firs book - The Ribbons are for Fearlessness - truly fearless journey in an old van, surfing along the way and busking with her cello in each of the countries she travels through.

[@isabelleangouleme]

Really enjoyed your honest thoughts on this book! The writer sounds quite entitled and privileged?

[@denverdubois5835]

A lady who lives in a fricking SHED is privileged?! LOL k.

[@Chareads]

She went to Cambridge, I'd consider that a privilege